Color coding

I decided to color code all the elements that make up the diorama. It’s much easier to see the layout of the elements and the spaces between them when each element has its own color. It took a short while to figure out how to do the coloring. I ordered a set of water color spray paints which make the process cheaper than using Vallejo spray paint, but these don’t have the color range of Vallejo. I used random colors for the moment with no particular color scheme in mind. Moving forward I may use particular set of colors that work together. I’m slowly creating swatches of the Vallejo paints so that I can lay out the colors next to each other to decide on a set that would work together nicely as a color code.

The layout so far. I still have to do the platform and the side parking and rear driveway. I can see from this image that the roadway feels a little too wide and therefore I intend to make it a bit smaller.

The elements that have been color coded so far are the road, the crossing, the track, the platform, the gully alongside the road, the station parking area, the freight platform and the depot building. I still have to build the small roadway and parking behind and to the right of the depot. I also have to build the platform onto which the depot building will sit.

I used a selection of Vallejo spray paint to color the card pieces. Coloring has made observing the layout so much easier.

 

The coloring really starts to show the diorama coming together. It’s easy to make adjustments at this point. For example, I think the roadway and gully area is slightly too wide and I intend to shave off some of the width of both elements to help balance them out.
I decided to add the same treatment to the backdrop elements. I still have to do the sides and the horizon.
I’m slowly creating swatches of the Vallejo Air range paints. It makes selecting colors much easier. I can also pull swatches from the shelf and sit them next to each other to assist selecting a color scheme.
The colors for this diorama were randomly selected but I use the swatches to confirm that the colors will work together nicely.